A major new investigation by the Nottingham Post has revealed the challenges faced by children in care across the city.

Exclusive analysis of local data from the Department for Education shows the hurdles that children looked after by the local authority in Nottingham have to overcome throughout their time in care - and beyond.

As well as difficulties such as emotional and behavioural issues and problems with substance abuse, young people often struggle with unemployment and unsuitable housing after leaving care.

The investigation shows that:

Four in 10 children in care in Nottingham have possible emotional and behavioural problems.

Around one in every 20 have a drug or alcohol problem.

Children in care are nearly twice as likely to be convicted of a crime as other children in Nottingham.

However, Nottingham City Council says that many children entering the care system have experienced significant loss, trauma and abuse, and still manage to achieve "good outcomes" with lots of additional support.

Type your postcode into our interactive widget to see the figures for your area:

Natasha Finlayson, chief executive of Become - a national charity for children in care and young care leavers - said such outcomes were usually a product of both a child’s troubled background, and the experience of being in care itself.

She said: “Every child in care has experienced childhood trauma, such as abuse or neglect within their family, extreme family dysfunction, or parental substance abuse.

“What you see is that the care system works to keep children safe, and takes them away from that environment, but it doesn’t give them the emotional support that they need to deal with that trauma.

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“In fact, the care system compounds that trauma by repeatedly moving these children around, between placements.

“They are forced to adapt to life with strangers again and again, and these multiple experiences of instability, feelings of rejection, not fitting in and abandonment, can result in emotional and psychological problems, affect their ability to concentrate and learn in school, and can present as behaviour difficulties.”

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An estimated 5% of children in care in Nottingham have been identified as having a substance misuse problem.

While there are no official figures for the exact number of children who have been identified as having a substance misuse problem overall, there are figures on the number actually receiving treatment for one.

Figures from The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System show that there were 16,436 young people in treatment for substance misuse across England in 2016-17 - just 0.1% of all children.

Similarly, children in care in Nottingham are also more likely to be convicted of a crime as other children in the city.

Around 5% of children in care in Nottingham were convicted or cautioned for a crime in one year.

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In comparison, 3% of all children in the city were proven to have committed an offence over the course of 12 months. That figure includes all offenders - not just those who were convicted, warned or reprimanded - so it’s likely that the disparity is even bigger.

However, experts argue that the higher conviction rate for children in care does not mean that these children are more likely to actually commit a crime - they’re just more likely to be reported to police.

Beth Murray, director of Catch22 - a national charity that works with care leavers and young offenders - said: “Children in care in Nottingham are not twice as likely to commit a crime, but they may well be twice as likely to be reported for one.

“A child that breaks a window in their family home might expect to be grounded, or have their pocket money docked.

“A child in a children’s home could see this reported to the police as damage to property. Once a child is on the police radar, any further incidents are dealt with more severely.”

Children in care can face particular challenges

Figures from the Care Leavers Association suggest one in every four adults in prison have spent time in care.

Young adults who have been in care can also struggle once they leave the system.

Carrie Wilson, young people's project coordinator at the Care Leavers Association, said: “Children in care aren’t being prepared for real life, and they’re not being given the skills they need to survive once they leave care.

“Even in cases where a care leaver has had some preparation for the real world, problems with mental health and a lack of ability to deal with these issues stops them being able to use these skills.”

Government figures show that 23% of 17-18 year old care leavers and 33% of 19-21 year old care leavers in Nottingham are not in education, employment or training.

That’s much higher than the average for all young adults - across the city, just 7% of all 16-17 year olds and 11% of all 18-19 year olds are in this situation.

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According to a report by the Alliance for Children in Care and Care Leavers, safe and suitable accommodation is the starting point for providing young people with a good transition into adulthood, good health (including mental health), gaining qualifications and moving into employment.

Accommodation is regarded as suitable if it provides safe, secure and affordable provision for young people. It would generally include short-term accommodation designed to move young people on to stable long-term accommodation, but would exclude emergency accommodation used in a crisis.

Despite this, at least 5% of 17-18 year old and 6% of 19-21 year old care leavers in the East Midlands were in accommodation considered “unsuitable”.

This can include B&B accommodation, homeless hostels or night shelters, or ‘sofa-surfing’ with friends.

(Image: HDM)

However, Councillor David Mellen, Portfolio Holder for Early Intervention and Early Years at Nottingham City Council, said: “Many children who come into the care of councils have often experienced significant loss, trauma and abuse. It is not accurate or helpful to measure their early outcomes against children from secure, stable homes.

“Children in care face many challenges and many achieve good outcomes with lots of additional support. We have a high number of children from deprived households, and work very effectively to support local families and our children in care compare well in many measures.

“This includes significantly reducing offending by half since 2015 to below statistical neighbours, through a nationally-acclaimed approach including the only joint council and police post in the country to address the issue.

"We also know one of the greatest gifts we can give a vulnerable young adult is education, skills and hope for a good career, and are doing extremely well at supporting our care leavers in securing jobs and careers. Last year 67.3% of our care leavers aged 19-21 year were in education, employment or training compared to 52% in similar authorities.

“We have also seen 2.5% reduction in the last two years in the level of concern about substance misuse and in 2017, 85.4% of our care leavers aged 19 to 21 were in suitable accommodation – better than similar authorities.

“We are really proud of our children in care and are determined to give them a great future. Local families can make a real difference and we would urge anyone interested in fostering to contact Fostering@nottinghamcity.gov.uk.”

And while some of the figures paint a stark picture of the challenges faced by children in care and young care leavers, charities are keen to stress that the data doesn’t tell the whole story.

Ms Finlayson of Become said: “The full context here is that there are many young people who do flourish against the odds.

“From our experience, children who are in care from an early age and are settled have good outcomes, and academic research bears this out.”

That’s why for her, the biggest priority is getting far more foster carers into the system.

She said: “The current shortage means it’s really hard to get the right match, and children aren’t necessarily being put with the right family - that’s why they are often moved about so much”.

“We also need to support and train foster workers to have an understanding of a child’s emotional and developmental needs, so that they can provide a more therapeutic environment.”

Ms Finlayson said what was most needed was a shift in attitude - a move towards being more child-centered, putting the needs of the child first, and listening to them, which she said rarely happened at the moment.

She said: “Most children say they don’t know why they’ve been taken into care, and this needs to be explained to them. Their own views and options should also be taken into account.

“Across all these outcomes, whether it’s homelessness, offending or substance abuse, the issue lies in how we help people to value themselves and believe in themselves.

“Ultimately this comes from unconditional love - emotional security is the foundation for people succeeding in life.”